Bulletin, December 2006/January 2007

Editor's Desktop

Irene L. Travis, Editor

Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

Bulletin@asis.org

Library and information science (LIS) in Europe is the central theme of this issue. The special section contributed by Leif Kajberg and Leif Lørring of the Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark, reports on a project for which they and the school were contractors. This project studied the curriculum of European LIS schools, both what it is and what it might be, as part of a general effort underway in the European Union to improve student mobility and portability of credits and degrees among institutions of higher learning in Europe.

Also, in this issue, Ronald Day pays tribute to one of the great pioneers of information science, French documentalist Suzanne Briet (1894-1989), known to many American LIS students as “the antelope woman” for her famous discussion of whether an antelope could be a document. However, her ideas go far beyond this example and are now more readily available in English with Day’s new translation of her book Qu’est-ce que la documentation? (What Is
Documentation?).

It is also common for the Bulletin to ask winners of ASIS&T awards to write for us, and for this issue, by coincidence, I had asked the joint winners of the 2006 Jim Cretsos Leadership Award, Caryn Anderson and Nadia Caidi, for their thoughts. The award does in perpetuity what Jim excelled at – recognizing and encouraging emerging leaders in ASIS&T. It was with great sadness that we learned as we were going to press that Jim had died in August. He was a dedicated ASIS&T member and disseminated his experience, enthusiasm and insight to us all. He was a good friend to the
Bulletin and was very supportive to me when I assumed the editor’s job. That Caryn and Nadia exemplify the qualities that Jim was seeking to reward is abundantly clear from their contributions.

Elsewhere in the issue’s regular features, Edie Rasmussen assumes her position as ASIS&T President and supplies her ideas for the “President’s Page,” while in the issue’s “IA Column” Stacy Surla, associate editor for information architecture, discusses IAs’ professional need for face-to-face social contact at the local level and what can be done to encourage local IA groups.
Bulletin Advisory Board student member Frances McConihe uses her space to discuss the future of the Semantic Web.